Firing mechanism for firearms.



. No. 808,964, PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906.

G. E. WITHBRELL.

FIRING MECHANISM FOR FIREARMS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 30. 1904.

2 sums-sum 1.

W io w PATBNTED JAN. 2, 1906. G. E. WITHERBLL. FIRING MECHANISM FOR FIREARMS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

APPLICATION FILED APR.30. 1904.

' lNVENTOR A 2%, 5 mm B) A770 NEY5 WITNESSES:

onrrnn s'ra'rns PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. WVITHERELL, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, OF ILION, NEW YORK, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2. 19L 6.

Application filed April 30, 1904. Serial No. 205,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. WITHERELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Firing Mechanism for Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to firearms, and more particularly to that class in which a plural number of barrels and a plural number of hammers, with their appurtenant scars and other parts, are employed and combined with other mechanism by means of which said sears, hammers, and firing mechanism may be operated from a single trigger.

The object of the invention is to provide for surety of action in a predetermined manner.

A further object is to provide a single trigger and arranged appurtenant thereto a means for influencing the action of said trigger so that it must be operated in a predetermined and known manner.

A still further object is to provide a retarding mechanism for a trigger free from complications and one which will act with surety and precision without the use of springs and complicated parts and a still further object is to provide a fluid-controlled means for positively influencing the action of the trigger to preclude double firing of the barrels or improper action and involuntary pull on the recoil or counter-recoil of the arm.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the mechanism with parts in section on the line denoted by A A of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a side view of a portion of a gun, showing the improvement With parts in section. Fig. 3 shows a modified form of retarding mechanism. Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 1, but with the parts in position with the left valve fired. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the parts in the opposite extreme position. Fig. 6 is a detailed view of the retarding mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings the numeral 1 denotes the barrels suitably mounted in the stock and each provided with a hammer 2. These hammers are of course provided with springs, as 3, and a setting-bar 4 for throwing the hammer backward as the gun-barrels are tilted in order to permit the sear end 5 to engage and hold the hammer in firing position. Of course it is understood that each barrel is provided with a hammer, a sear, and appurtenant parts.

Pivoted to each of the sears 5 6 are couplers 7 8, which at their forward ends are arranged to be engaged by the hammer when the latter is placed in firing position. The opposite ends of the couplers are so formed that upon the firing of either of the barrels by the release of the hammer the coupler end will form a connection between the sear upon which it is mounted and the sear of the opposite barrel. Each coupler is actuated by a spring 9, which throws the rear end of the coupler inward as the forward end is released by the disengagement of the hammer upon firing.

All of the above-named parts arewell known in this class of gun mechanism and are therefore briefly described.

Ordinarily in the use of such a mechanism as above described in connection with a single trigger for operating both sears the effect of the counter-recoil of the gun is such as to cause an involuntary pull upon the trigger after the first barrel has been fired. This of course causes the discharge of the second barrel and makes such a mechanism entirely unfit for practical use. One of the essential features of the present invention is to provide an elastic means for effectually preventing this involuntary discharge.

The trigger 10 is mounted in the triggerplate 11 in the ordinary manner, as by being pivoted to a post or support 12, as at 13. This trigger at its rear end is milled out on one side, as at 14, and is provided with a pin 15, which projects through the trigger into the milled-out space and has its outer end lying substantially in the plane of the' side face of the trigger, so that the whole trigger may be removed from the trigger-plate without difficulty.

As is usual in gun construction, just at the rear of the trigger and mounted upon the trigger-plate is a post or support 16, which forms the mount for the safety-lever 17, pivoted, as at 18, and with its lower end arranged to be brought over the top of the trigger to prevent its movement. This safety-lever is controlled by a slide 19.

Mounted in the support 16, preferably accurately fitted to a cylinder 24, and within the cylinder and tubular piston is a light spring 25. The preferred manner of arranging the cylinder and piston within the frame is to bore through the material of the stock under the upper tang 26 and insert the cylinder and piston within said bore. The puraose and object of this piston are obvious from an inspection of the drawings. Upon the first pull of the trigger to release one of the hammers the lever 20 is tilted and the piston 23 is Withdrawn slightly from the" cylinder. N ow in order to permit the trigger .to assume its normal position, so that the coupler of the barrel first fired may engage .and couple the sear for the second barrel, it

is necessary for it to react against the piston 23. As this piston fits tightly within its cylinder, an appreciable period of time is required for the trigger to react and throw the piston to its normal position. In order to provide a means for adjusting the period of retardation upon the trigger, a pin-valve comprising a screw 27 is arranged with its end passing through the upper end of the cylinder in order to provide for the passage of a greater or less amount of air.

It is to be noted that the connection between the retardinglever and the trigger is such that the latter may be readily removed from the trigger-plate without affecting the lever and appurtenant parts. It is to be further noted that the connection is a somewhat peculiar one and is so arranged as to permit the trigger to drop down absolutely clear of the sears and appurtenant parts. To permit this, the lower side of the bifurcated end of the lever is cut away and has a cam-surface 21, so arranged that as the trigger falls back to normal position the pin 15 will drop downward from the bifurcation and rest easily just clear of the lever, but in such a position that the cam-surface 21 will, through the action of the spring 25, prevent rattling of the trigger. With this arrangement the retarding mechanism is normally disconnected from the trigger, and only when the trigger has been moved until the pin 15 rides into the bifurcated end of the lever does said lever become operative as a retarding-lever.

In Fig. 3 there is shown a slightly-modified form of the device in which the retardinglever 30 is pivoted to the trigger, as at 31, and to the support 32, as at 33. In this case the support is extended, as at 34, and bears at its end a cylinder 35, within which the piston 36 works. I/Vhen this form of the device is used, much more of the material of the stock must be cut away to introduce the mechanism, and thus the gun is materially weakened at this point.

In order to arrange the coupler and sear mechanism so that either the left-hand or right-hand hammer may be released in a predetermined order, there is arranged in the trigger a shifting finger-piece 40, which has a spindle 41 extending through the trigger and connected with a connector bar 42. This connector-bar is interposed between the trigger and the under side of the sears and may be shifted from left to right or right to left to initially engage either the left-hand or righthand sear. When this connector-bar 42 is once set, the corresponding sear may be released upon the first movement of the trigger, and after the coupler for this sear has joined the two sears a second pull upon the trigger will fire the second barrel without necessitating shifting of the coupler-bar 42. In other words, the bar 42 may be set to always fire either the left-hand or right-hand barrel first.

Obviously changes might be made in the detailed construction of the several parts, and, in fact, various forms of sear, coupler, and other parts may be used, without'departing from the spirit or intent of the invention.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. I11 a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears, and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, hammer-controlled coupling means intermediate the sears and trigger for automatically coupling one of said sears to the other after the operation of the first of said sears, and a fluid controlled means operatively arranged with reference to said trigger but normally disconnected therefrom and adapted to temporarily pre vent the action of the automatic sear-coupling means.

2. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears, and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger including pivoted hammer-controlled couplers for automatically coupling said sears after the operation of either one of said sears, and a fluid-resist operatively arranged with relation to said trigger to temporarily prevent the action of the automatic sear-coupling means, said fluid-resist being normally disconnected from said trigger.

3. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears, and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, a coupler pivoted on each of the sears and controlled by the position of the hammer, and a fluid-resist nor mally disconnected from though operatively arranged with reference to the trigger and adaptedfor temporarily preventing the coupling action of the pivoted couplers.

4. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers and sears and appurtenant parts, a trigger, a pivoted coupler mounted upon each of the scars and controlled by the position of its hammer, a lever appurtenant to and normally disconnected from the trigger, and a fluid-resist operatively arranged with reference to the lever and adapted to temporarily prevent the coupling action of the couplers, during the connection of the trigger and lever.

5. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, a pivoted coupler mounted upon each sear and controlled in its coupling action by its respective hammer, means intermediate the sears and trigger and cooperating with the couplers for operating either of said sears after the operation of the other of said'sears, a pivoted lever, interengaging parts between one end of the lever and the trigger, acylinder operatively mounted with reference to the lever, a piston fitting said cylinder, and interengaging connections between said piston and one end of the lever.

6. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears, and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger for automatically con necting one of said sears for operation after the operation of the other of said sears, a recess formed in the trigger, a pin projecting from said recess, a bifurcated lever engaging said pin, a support for the lever, apiston operatively connected with the opposite end of said lever, a cylinder surrounding the piston, and a valve for varying the action of the piston with reference to the cylinder.

7. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger for automatically connecting one of said sears after the operation of the other of said sears, a fluid-resist operatively arranged with reference to but normally disconnected from the trigger and comprising a piston and cylinder, and a valve extending through the upper tang to the cylinder for varying the action of the fluid-resist with reference to the trigger during connection of the parts.

8. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger for automatically connecting one of said sears after the operation of the other of said sears, a lever loosely connected with the trigger at one end and engaged at its opposite end by a movable piston, a cylinder surrounding said piston, and a valve projecting through the upper tang appurtenant thereto for varying t e action of said piston.

9. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and appurtenant parts, a pivoted coupler mounted upon each sear, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger including the pivoted couplers for operating one of said sears after the operation of the other of said sears, means for resisting the normal action of the trigger comprising a cylinder and piston, and a valve for regulating the action of the latter in the former, and a spring arranged within the piston.

10. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger for automatically coupling one of said sears for releasing action with respect to its hammer after the operation of the other of said sears, a pin arranged upon the trigger, a lever having a bifurcated end normally disengaged from said pin, and means for retarding the action of said lever upon its connection with the trigger.

11. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and their appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the sears and trigger for automatically connecting for operation one of said sears after the operation of the other of said sears, a retarding lever operatively arranged with reference to the trigger and having a bifurcated end, a cam-surface arranged upon one side of the bifurcation, a pin in the trigger normally disconnectedfrom the lever and 00- operating with said cam -surface, and fluid means for retarding the lever. I

12. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, searsand appurtenant parts, a trigger, a pivoted hammer-controlled coupler mounted upon each of the sears, a shiftable block borne by the trigger and underlying said sears, a pivoted lever mounted independently of the trigger and arranged to be tilted thereby, an air-piston connected with one end of said lever and a spring operatively arranged with respect to said piston substantially as set forth.

13. In a multibarrel firearm having a plu ral number of hammers, sears and appurtenant parts, a trigger, a pivoted hammer-controlled coupler mounted upon each of the sears, a shiftable block borne by the trigger and underlying said sears, a pivoted lever mounted independently of the trigger and arranged to be tilted thereby, a tubular air-piston connecting with one end of said lever and a spring arranged within said piston substantially as set forth.

14. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and appurtenant parts, means intermediate the trigger and sears whereby either of the hammers may be released by the single trigger, a recess formed in the gun-stock, a cylinder located in said recess and supported bythe gunstock, a piston fitting said cylinder, a lever pivoted independently of the trigger and nor mally disconnected therefrom, said lever having one end in operative engagement with the piston, Wherebysaid piston Will be moved by and Will control said lever upon interen gagement of the trigger and lever.

15. In a multibarrel firearm having a plural number of hammers, sears and appurtenant parts, a trigger, means intermediate the trigger and sears, whereby either hammer may be released by the single trigger, a cylinder inserted through the gun-stock, a piston arranged to move in said cylinder and having an antjfriction-bearing connection with a le-' ver, the pivoted lever engaging said piston through the antifriction-bearing, and With its opposite end normally -disconnected from the trigger and arranged to connect the trigger and piston for retarding the movements of the trigger When said trigger is actuated to release either of the hammers.

GEORGE E. l/VITHERELL. Witnesses:

WM. H. BARKER, I'IORAOE R. GRANTIjj 

